Summary

The poetic voice here has been scared, battered, and mistreated in every possible way by his or her circumstances. Nonetheless, the poet perseveres.

Analysis

This poem is a statement of the resilience of people so battered by life that their circumstances effectively dictate to them that they stop laughing, loving, or living. The voice here represented is of a person who is willfully indifferent to the nihilistic injunctions of a life of abuse. He remains; he is still here.